Young Czechs deem postcommunist times as positive

větší obrázekZdroj: Aktuálně.cz

Prague - Czech young people are convinced that the Velvet Revolution was a good thing, refusing to believe that communism was better, a poll conducted by CVVM agency on the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism has confirmed.

Almost half of the poll respondents are adamant that the November 1989 Revolution had positive effects on the society. Only 14 percent said life was better before 1989.

The poll indicates that the Czech youth hold a largely positive view of the post-Revolution times development.

The category of respondents that are nostalgic about the pre-Revolution times includes largely pensioners who had basic education and relatively low living standard.

Up until now the best evaluation of the post-1989 changes transpired from a 1991 poll. After that skepticism and disillusion about the new regime were on the rise, with the year1998 reaching the biggest nostalgia for the "old" regime.

Democracy is good

Only in the past two years people tend to look back without the good-old-times sentiment, marking the twenty years of democracy in a positive fashion.

"Young people lean towards holding a now-we-are-doing-much-better view," Paulína Tabery told Aktuálně.cz.

People who have no direct experience with communism were not ready to answer the questions about the authoritative regime.

From the poll transpires that most of the center-right wing leaning Civic Democratic Party voters tend to view the post-communist changes very positively, which is in stark contrast to the Communist Party voters. The Social Democrats supporters are divided with some being in favor of the communist regime and some against.

Despite holding the Velvet Revolution in high esteem, the Czechs find critical words for the political platform. They say its culture is of poor quality. Only one seventh of those polled deem the Czech political scene good.

Being critical of the politics though does not indicate people would like to prefer the old system. Most of the respondents value democracy and the transition to a new system.
As for the future prospects, Czechs remain surprisingly optimists. Only 22 percent believe that the situation will get worse.

Party-wise, the ODS voters prove most optimistic (54 percent), followed by the new formed party TOP 09 fans (51 percent). Twenty two of the ČSSD voters hope for better future and 5 percent of the Communist voters see the future as positive.